The world’s most expensive incarnation of the Monopoly board game is headed to Wall Street. An 18-karat gold version of the famous Parker Brothers board game will be on display beginning Friday at the Museum of American Finance.

Since its inception in 1886, Sears has issued many glossy publications filled with numbers and descriptions. Most of those have been catalogues, with dazzling copy written by Richard Sears himself. But exactly 100 years ago the firm issued a different publication filled with numbers and descriptions: its first annual report.

On August 12, 1984, Peter Ueberroth stood in the Los Angeles Coliseum during the Olympic closing ceremonies, tears escaping his usually tight control as the 93,000-member audience stood and cheered. Other honors would follow, including recognition from "Time" as the magazine's Man of the Year, over President Ronald Reagan. Neither an athlete nor a statesman nor a celebrity, Ueberroth was a middle-aged entrepreneur from Southern California, a self-made man who had, in large part, made the Games of the 23rd Olympiad happen -- and not only happen, but succeed on a spectacular level. In doing so, he changed many of the financial rules by which the Olympics had been played.

In Martin Fridson's book, "It Was a Very Good Year: Extraordinary Moments in Stock Market History," 1954 ranks as the second best year of the 20th century for market returns as measured by the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (52.62 percent). It was also the year that the Dow finally regained its pre-1929 high of 381.37 and soared past the 400 mark for the first time. Fridson also notes the arrival of Muriel Siebert on Wall Street in 1954. Siebert, who established a successful career in a male-dominated industry, is probably best known as the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Siebert was not the typical career woman of the 1950s, but her struggle to overcome prejudice and discrimination on Wall Street caused us to wonder: What does it take for a woman to achieve prominence and respect on Wall Street?

One out of every two beers sold in the U.S. is brewed by Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis, MO. The family-run company traces its origins to the 1860s, but 2002 marks the first time in the company's 142-year history that its president and chief executive will be a non-family member.

The development of underwriting syndicates is a phenomenon of late 19th century America arising out of the need for investment banks to pool their own capital to underwrite the new issue securities being sold to fund the growth of American industry. The railroad, steel, mining and utility industries all had significant capital requirements.